


A Man Like No Other

by Damian422



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Idols, M/M, Real names used, Trans Male Character, mention of transphobia, starts with ace bandage binding but he does get a real binder at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-01-15 18:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12326877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Damian422/pseuds/Damian422
Summary: Doh Kyungsoo, Formerly known as Doh Kyungsoon, is a man who wants to be an idol. He got signed to SM Entertainment and is due to debut with a group called EXO. Everything should work out fine as long as nobody finds out what's in his pants. But something always goes the unexpected route.Kim Jongin walks in on Kyungsoo one day by accident and agrees to keep his friend's secret.





	1. Chapter 1

Doh Kyungsoo waited anxiously to see if his audition passed. He checked the listing every hour, refreshing the page constantly until finally. He saw his name on the accepted trainee list!

 

“Yes! Haha! I did it!” he smiled and cheered. He was so excited he fell out of his chair, banging his head on the ground. But he didn’t care, he was going to be an SM trainee and that’s all that mattered. He laid on the ground, smiling and silently letting out tears of joy.

 

Meanwhile, Kim Jongin was dancing around happily in his bedroom, "I made the list! haha! Eomma! Appa! Jung ha! I'm going to be an idol!" He ran out to tell his family. 


	2. Chapter 2

On the first day, Kyungsoo immediately went to the bathroom and inside a stall, started wrapping his bandages. It was hard to breathe with them on, making it difficult to wear for more than an hour but Kyungsoo wanted to make his chest as flat as possible. He put his shirt back on, flushed the toilet and went out to find his classroom.

 

He entered the studio and sat on the floor with his fellow peers. The instructor explained what they had to do in order to succeed. Kyungsoo dreaded that he had to sing while doing sit-ups and while someone kept hitting his stomach. He was never athletic, even before he started binding. The bandages only tripled the difficulty.

 

He struggled to breathe as he lifted his shoulders up and sang his notes, his voice cracking every time he got hit in the stomach. Every time that happened however, The instructor made him run ten laps around the studio, still singing.

 

Kyungsoo felt like he was going to die. He felt like a boa constrictor was squeezing the life out of him around his chest.

 

He excused himself to go to the men’s room. Inside the stall, he took off his shirt and unwrapped his bandages. He breathed heavily, trying to get as much oxygen in his system as possible. There had to be a better way to get a flat chest. He spent five minutes just taking a breathing break on the toilet seat, after that small break, he wrapped his bandages again and went out. The cycle of that day was train, bathroom breathing break, train, bathroom breathing break, language class, bathroom breathing break, train, bathroom breathing break, acting class, bathroom breathing break, more training and so on.

 

When Kyungsoo finally took his bandages off for the last time that day and laid in bed, he felt like he was already dead. He laid there for five minutes before getting up to put on a sports bra and start training again.

 

This was Kyungsoo’s life for a whole month before Kyungsoo decided it would be better to just wear a tight sports bra and loose-fitting shirts.


	3. Chapter 3

Kyungsoo sat by himself, squinting at his food. His instructor told him that he should consider ditching his glasses if he wanted to debut. Which would be fine if they were hipster glasses and not helping his astigmatism. 

He did order contact lenses but the idea of poking himself in the eye to put on a lense was a hard concept to brave. He only just barely started getting used to injecting testosterone in his thigh. Even without a phobia of needles, it still freaks him out sometimes. But he supposed, like injecting testosterone, putting on contact lenses can one day just be a necessary evil that becomes just tedious. At least contact lenses wouldn’t make him go through puberty again.

 

“Hey, Kyungsoo-ah! Do you mind if we join you?” a voice asked.

 

Kyungsoo looked at the source, He saw two blurry figures but he recognized the voice of...okay he didn’t remember the name...Jun-something? He just knew the guy was in his vocal class. 

 

“Let’s not eat with him, hyung” said the other guy, Kyungsoo didn’t recognize this voice, “He’s glaring at us”

 

“I see...Sorry for bothering you” The guy from his vocals class bowed and walked away with the other guy.

 

Meanwhile, Jongin wondered what was that guy’s problem, glaring at him and Junmyun like that. They sat somewhere else. Turns out that guy, Kyungsoo, was in Junmyun’s vocals class. Jongin was more interested in his chicken and pretty much ignored whatever else Junmyun had to say about the glaring loner.


	4. Chapter 4

After nearly two years of training, Kyungsoo was summoned to a studio with eleven other guys, including Junmyun and a few other familiar faces. Kyungsoo felt anxious, was he finally going to debut? Were they getting cut out?

 

Everyone gasped when Lee Soo Man and some of the instructors entered the room.

 

“Good Afternoon, gentlemen. I have some good news for all of you” Lee Soo Man spoke.

 

Kyungsoo’s heart was pounding in excitement. From the corner of his eye, he can see some of the others, especially Junmyun crying tears of joy.

 

An instructor pointed a projector at a non-mirrored wall and showed a logo. 

 

“As of now, the twelve of you will be known as EXO. Your instructors will be handing out your debut song now”

 

As the CEO said, two instructors handed out lyric sheets.

 

“As you can see, There are two versions. That’s because there will be two subunits. EXO-K will sing in korean while EXO-M will sing in mandarin. There are also two leaders. For EXO-K and the main leader, We have chosen Kim Junmyun”

 

Everyone clapped and some cheered. Junmyun, still wiping his happy tears, thanked Sooman. 

 

“As for EXO-M, We’re still deciding between Zhang Yixing and Wu Yifan”

 

“I think Yifan-ge should do it” said one of the chinese guys

 

“Are you sure, Yixing?”

 

Yixing nodded, “He’s older so I feel like he’d be better suited for this”

 

The three other chinese members nodded in agreement

 

“Ah, I see, We appreciate your modesty. Very well then, Mr. Wu, you’re EXO-M’s leader”

 

The chinese guys cheered as a tall man greeted Junmyun.

 

Lee Sooman gestured to a man in a suit “Mr. Lim will be your manager. If you have any questions or want to discuss stage names, talk with him. Everyone but Mr. Kim Junmyun and Mr. Wu Yifan are dismissed for the day. Tomorrow you will meet in studio A at the official SM building to go over choreography, move into your dorm rooms and prepare to debut in April.”

 

Everyone bowed to the CEO and the ten boys left. Cheers rang through the hallways. Even the normally quiet Kyungsoo couldn’t help but join in on his group’s celebration.

 

When he went home, he immediately told his family and they took him out for barbecue to celebrate.

 

A few tables away, the Kim family was also celebrating the success of their youngest. 


	5. Chapter 5

Kyungsoo walked into the studio, nervous as hell. This was his debut he’s preparing for. He was scared that even the slightest misstep would make him be sent home. 

“Now that you’re all here, let’s get started, you’ll be split into your pre-determined six member units and perform this choreography, my dancers and I will perform it first and then you lot will dance as you’ve seen.” The choreographer explained.

 

The dancers, dressed in black, each with two name tags, the member’s names in large letters. They performed the choreography and Kyungsoo paid attention to the dancer’s movements as they danced to the instrumental of their song. 

It didn’t look too hard, but Kyungsoo had a feeling it might be a while before him and his group were music video or even dance practice video ready.

 

The choreographer flipped a coin, heads: EXO-M goes first, Tails: EXO-K goes first.

 

The coin landed on Tails.

 

The got up and mimicked what they saw but the choreographer would interrupt often because they were too far apart, too close together, using the wrong arm movement, not being in sync with each other and the occasional instance of someone slipping or tripping. The only exception was Jongin. The prima ballerina as some called him.

 

The same issues arose with EXO-M.

 

The session started at 7am and by time they were finished, it was pitch black outside.

 

They brought their things to the dorms where they met with their seniors, Jonghyun and Taemin from a group called SHINEE.  Jonghyun showed EXO-M their living quarters while Taemin showed EXO-K. 

 

Kyungsoo ended up getting Jongin as his roommate. They hadn’t talked much during their trainee days.  First thing they talked about was age difference. Kyungsoo was a little smug at being Jongin’s hyung, while the other refused to call him that.

 

Jongin also asked why Kyungsoo used to glare at people. Kyungsoo explained that he has astigmatism and the reason he wasn’t squinting now was because of his contact lenses. Once that misunderstanding was cleared up, Jongin apologized for being rude when they first met.

 

“How about we start over?” suggested Kyungsoo.

 

“Eh?” Jongin looked confused

 

“You know… meet again…?” Kyungsoo felt kinda stupid for suggesting that.

 

Jongin lets out a light chuckle, “Is this a drama?”

 

Kyungsoo smacks him lightly on the head, “I was just saying we could forget your rudeness earlier”

 

“Ok ok jeez” Jongin bows “I’m Kim Jongin, nice to meet you. Let’s work together well”

 

Kyungsoo nods in approval and follows suit, “I’m Doh Kyungsoo, nice to meet you too.”

 

They shake hands and Jongin pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

 

Kyungsoo opens the door and is surprised to see a single queen bed. “I think we got the wrong room…:

 

“Taemin! You gave us the manager’s room, there’s a queen bed in here!” Kai yelled down the hall

 

“Nope that’s your room, managers have their own place!” Taemin called out, mischief blatant in his voice.

 

Jongin sighed, “looks like we’re stuck like this”

 

They unpacked their stuff and then Jongin took off his shirt before climbing into bed. “You get that side, I get this side”

 

Kyungsoo blushed and got on his side of the bed. He never shared a bed with anyone before.

 

Later that night, Kyungsoo felt something wrap around him, he woke up and saw Jongin’s face an inch or two from his face. He was so shocked, he pushed Jongin away and ended up falling out of bed.

 

“Oww” Kyungsoo rubbed his head

 

“Huh? What happened?” Jongin woke up and asked, groggily

 

“You were hugging me in your sleep, I’m not a teddy bear you know” Kyungsoo got up

 

“Funny, considering you’re the same size as one”

 

“Shut up, don’t randomly cuddle with people!”

 

Jongin sat up, “I don’t cuddle”

 

“Then explain why you were hugging me in your sleep”

 

“You were dreaming”

 

“Sounds like a nightmare”

 

Jongin went back on his side, “Don’t be cuddling with me”

 

Kyungsoo scoffed, “as if”, He got back into bed and slept relatively peaceful the rest of the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know Sehun's lisp is such an old joke but I had to. Especially since this is debut era.

Kyungsoo woke up early the next morning. After escaping from yet another one of Jongin’s surprise cuddles, he grabbed his clothes and quickly hopped in the shower.

 

When he walked back into the room to finish getting ready, he walked in just as Jongin was about to take off his briefs. “What the-?!”

 

“Gah! Lock the door next time!” Kyungsoo slammed the door behind him as he left, a blatant blush on his face.

 

Not too long after that, the members were piling into their vans for the studio recording.

 

Kyungsoo was sitting between Chanyeol and Baekhyun and the drive felt like it would never end.

 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun would just keep talking nonstop, at increasing volume levels and leaning so close together that Kyungsoo felt like he was being crushed.

 

He shoved the two from him and said “Guys, you two can hear each other just fine talking at a normal level from this distance, you don’t need to lean in and yell at each other through my ears, got it?”

 

Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared a look and the two grinned. They laid on Kyungsoo and really started yelling, “Can you hear me now Chanyeol?!”

 

“Nope! A little louder Baekhyun!”

 

“Okay!”

 

“What the hell you guys! Get off me!” said an annoyed Kyungsoo

 

Jongin, meanwhile, was laughing at the scene in front of them.

 

Sehun groaned, “People are trying to thleep here!” he complained

 

“Let’s all pile on Kyungsoo when we get back!” suggested Baekhyun

 

“Yeah!”

 

“C’mon don’t be mean, you two” said Junmyun

 

“What? We’re just teasing”

 

“Get your fat asses off me!”

 

The manager only sighed, babysitting was not in the job description.

 

They manage to get to the studio on time, miraculously without Chanyeol or Baekhyun losing a limb.

 

The recording goes a lot more smoothly, everyone becoming ten times more professional once they step into the studio.

 

When he wasn’t recording his parts, Kyungsoo was talking to some of his fellow members. He got along fairly well with most of them, though he and Luhan became good friends.

 

“But yeah, the thing I miss the most about Beijing is the food” said Luhan

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, korean food’s good, but it’s not mom’s cooking”

 

“Ah, I see. Maybe I’ll cook some chinese food for exo-m at some point”

 

“Are you good at cooking?”

 

Kyungsoo shrugged, “I think I’m decent”

 

“Alright, good enough for me” he nodded

 

“Yeah, are any of the chinese guys good?”

 

“Yifan says he’s the best in the world, though I have my doubts and Yixing’s supposedly not bad” Luhan said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back against the wall.

 

Kyungsoo chuckled at that “maybe if you make enough money for SM, the CEO will treat you guys”

 

Luhan scoffed, “doubt it, Entertainment companies are infamous for treating foreign idols like shit”

 

“Then why join?” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow

 

Luhan shrugged, “It’s better than nothing”

 

“I guess...I do hope they treat you guys good”

 

“Thup guyth” said Sehun said a lisped voice

 

“Oh hey Sehun, finished with your parts?”

 

“I barely got any” He said, sitting down next to his chinese friend.

 

“I’m sure you’ll get more lines in future songs” Kyungsoo tried to be encouraging.

 

“Hope tho”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took a while to update, bad writer's block and I was also pretty busy. Not to mention, I kinda fell out of love with this story idea. I saw AO3 statistics and wanted to boost up the FTM/Trans part of it. So I wrote this as a way to look through a daily life with a trans-lens. I also got inspired by the crossdressing trope, most commonly seen in Ouran High School Host Club. But anyway, I might continue with this when I feel like writing for it or I might just end it soon. So don't be surprised if I focus on new works and take a while to update this one.

The music video was released. Kyungsoo was excited. He and the other guys were refreshing the page again and again as the view count grew. 

Soon they began to celebrate their debut with cheap beer and various snacks.

A year later, they receive their first win with their song, “Wolf”.

It was such a surprise to them. Most of them were crying tears of joy while the others were speechless as they went on stage.

Joonmyun gave out a tearful speech, thanking everyone. 

“I can't believe wolf won" said Kyungsoo when they got back to the dorms

“me neither" said Jongin

“to be honest, that song was pretty bad"

“what?” asked Jongin.

“Don't tell me you actually liked Wolf, I mean the cornrows alone should've made us unpopular"

Jongin thought for a moment “okay the cornrows were bad but I like the song itself"

“seriously, that song sucked" said Tao

“yeah I hear the fire alarm makes a better track every time Yifan cooks" said Luhan

The exo m members laugh while Yifan rolls his eyes

Kyungsoo laughs too.


End file.
